Israeli raid in Jenin leaves ten Palestinians dead

Israeli raid in Jenin leaves ten Palestinians dead
Israeli raid in Jenin leaves ten Palestinians dead

Palestinians fled their homes in the West Bank city of Jenin as a raid by Israeli security forces continued.

While a ceasefire appears to be holding between Israel and Hamas fighters in Gaza, at least ten Palestinians in Jenin have been killed in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a "large-scale and significant military operation."

Hamas, based in Gaza, has over recent years expanded its reach in the West Bank, challenging the Palestinian Authority's limited governance.

Hamas called on Palestinians in the territory to escalate fighting against Israel.

What the Israeli military calls a counter-terrorism operation in Jenin follows a weeks-long campaign by Palestinian Authority forces to reassert control in Jenin's adjacent refugee camp.

The camp is a major center of armed militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, both of which get support from Iran.

Israel's operation came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump declared he was lifting sanctions on ultranationalist Israeli settlers who attacked Palestinian villages in the West Bank.

Bands of Israeli settlers attack Palestinians, smashing cars and burning property, around the village of al-Funduq, near Qalqilya, an area where three Israelis were killed in a shooting earlier this month.

Now the attention is shifting to the rebuilding of the coastal enclave, which the Israeli military has reduced to vast tracts of rubble in its campaign to wipe out Hamas in retaliation for the militant group's Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Throughout the war, the U.N. has described its humanitarian operation as opportunistic - facing problems with Israel's military operation, access restrictions by Israel into and throughout Gaza and more recently looting by armed gangs.